Safety razor and magazine



June 20, A944. J. MuRos SAFETY RAZOR AND MAGAZINE Original Filed July23, 1943 Patented'dune 20,

SAFETY RAZOR AND MAGAZINE Ioseph Mnros, Cambridge, Mass., assignor to acorporation of Delaware Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mass,

Criginal application July 23, 194:, Serial No.

495,8,66. Divided and this application September 10, 194;, Serial No.501,834

(Cl. 3H0) 4 Claims.

This invention relatesto safety razors of the type having a thinflexible blade removably held in shaving position therein byco-operating bladeclamping members. In one aspect the invention consistsin an improved magazine mechanism for feeding to such razors a thinsharp-edged blade without damage to its edge and-without danger ofcutting the user. In another aspect-it consists in improvements insafety razor-magazine combinations. I

In safety razor .blade magazines it has been a problem of many yearsstanding to prevent occasional jamming of two or more thin blades in theexit slot of the magazine. It sometimes happens that the user willimpart only a partial stroke to the feed slide, leaving a bladepartially'ejected, and then go back and attempt to move the feed slide asecond time. Under these conditions a second blade is forced into theslot intended for the passage of one blade only. Jamming of the bladesthus results and the user frequently cuts his fingers in attempting toclear it.

This danger of jamming is obviated in accordance with an importantfeature of the present invention by providing the feed slide withbladeretracting projections which, if the previous blade has not beenfully ejected from the magazine, are effective to engage and return theblade to its initial position in the magazine.

In using safety razors with blade magazines as heretofore constructedthe user sometimes grasps the razor with one hand while presenting themagazine with the other and delivering a blade into shaving position.Under these circumstances the sharp edge or edges of the blade projectbeyond the outline of the cap and are likely to cut the users fingers.This danger has been overcome by the invention of Samuel C. Stampleman,as disclosed in his co-pending application Ser. No. 492,519, byequipping the feed slide of the magazine with protecting guardingportions designed to overlie the sharp edge or edges of the blade andact to safeguard it during its advancing'movement from the magazine toshaving position in the razor. The present invention may be embodied ina magazine of that type and in one specific form consists in providingthe guardmembers of the feed slide with means for engaging andretracting a blade not fully ejected from the magazine by 'a previousmovement of the feed slide.

Another important feature of my invention consists in the combination ofa magazine feed slide having blade. retracting devices and a safetyoperative position the blade-retracting means, so that when the bladehas been fully delivered to its shaving position in the razor the feedslide may be'returned to its. initial position without disturbing theblade.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the zine in longitudinal section and on the sameenlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in perspective of a portion of the feedslide with a portion of a blade shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the internal members of the magazine;and

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of the razor head showing a portion ofthe cap broken away and substantially in actual size.

The safety razor herein illustrated is in itself not part of the presentinvention but is the sub-" ject matter of a co-pending application ofMuros and Testi, Ser. No. 486,290, filed May 10, 1943.

It forms, however, one element of a novel razor and magazine combinationand will therefore be briefly described herein. It comprises a tubularhandle Ill permanently and rotatably secured to a guard member 4| which,as shown in Fig. 6.

- has outwardly and downwardly turned guard A face bounded by parallelfulcrum shoulders.

razor so organized as to deflect or move to in- 66 bars I2 and asubstantially-flat blade supporting In the body of the guard-is formed adiamondshaped depression l3 having a circular aperture near one end. Tothe bottom of the guard is permanently secured a flat spring l4 carryingnear its free end a detent 1'5 which is cylindrical in cross-section andpasseswith 'cle'arance through the circular aperture in the bottom ofthe depression I3. The detent I5 is bevelled in its upper surface andnormally extendssubstan tially above the flat blade-supporting face ofthe guard member. It is designed to interlock with an aperture providedfor the purpose in the blade and to anchor the blade againstlongitudinal movement after the blade has once been delivered fully initsshaving position. The spring has a downtumed finger piece by whichthe detent i5 may be retracted when it is desired to disengage the bladefor removal.

The cap member I6 of the razor is slightly with flanged end walls 26 and21.

narrower than the guard member and has a transversely concave inner facewhich co-operates with the fulcrum shoulders of the guard member inbowing a blade over the fulcrum. shoulderswhen the cap and guard membersare moved into clamping engagement. The cap I3 is provided also with anarrow blade-locating rib I! which is interrupted to clear the detent i5already mentioned. It is also provided with a downwardly extending steml8 having a threaded portion I9 10 which is engaged by a correspondinglythreaded portion in the handle Hi. In the lower end of the stem 18-49 isprovided a stop screw 20, movable freely in the bore of the handle butarranged to limit separation of the cap and guard members 15 to anamount which merely provides for the convenient insertion of a blade.with the feed slide of the magazine. In Fig. 3 the cap and guard membersof the razor are shown in their position of maximum separation.

The razor and magazine are shown herein as designed to employ a slottedand perforated double edged blade of the well-known Gillette type asbest shown in Fig. 4; The blade 40 is recessed in each corner to provideelongated unsharpened end portions. It is provided with a longitudinalslot 4l. This includes one or more apertures 42 of suflicient width toreceive the detent IS. The slot 4| is shown as opening through one endof the blade and thus clearance is provided in the blade for theblade-locating rib I! of the safety razor. e

The magazine comprises a sheet metal enclosure of rectangular outlinehaving a topconsisting of two side portions 22, side walls 23 and a 5,bottom 24. Placed upon the bottom of the magazine is an insert 25 bestshown in Fig. 5. -This is also constructed of sheet metal and providedThese are provided at each end with tongues which interlock withcorresponding notches in the side walls of the magazine enclosure. Atransverse tongue 28 is formed by die-cutting and bending the materialof the bottom of the insert as is also a longitudinally disposedblade-locating rib 29. Within the magazine is also disposed a springmember having a flat body 30 slotted to receive the rib and two upwardlycurved leaf springs 3| which act continuously to press the blade stackupwardly in the magazine against its slotted top wall.

The flanged wall 26 of the insert is of such height as to form with thetop of the magazine a blade exit slot through which the feed slide 32may also move. The feed slide is of thin flexible material and separatedinto two side portions by a longitudinal slot which opens through theouter end of the slide. A pair of diagonal slits 33 is formed in thesolid end 'of the feed slide and their edges are displaced downwardly soas to engage the rear outer corners of'the uppermost blade in the stackwhen the feed slide is moved forwardly over the stack. A knurled fingerpiece 35 is secured to the solid end of the feed slide and arranged formovement back and forth in the slot in the top of the magazine. Thetongue 28 is of such height as to permit the feed slide to be retractedto the extreme right-hand end of the magazine so as to locate theblade-engaging edges 33 of thefeed slide beyond the end of the bladestack. In each side portion 32 of the feed slide and adjacent the outerend thereof is provided a dog 34 which projects below the surface of thefeed slide sufficiently to engage and retract a blade when the feedslide and blade 75 dogs 34 into blade 40. It will be apparent that withthe dogs are disposed adjacent to each other in flat position.

In operation the magazine i filled with a stack of six or ten blades 40disposed with their open ends toward the left, as shown in Fig. 3, andpositioned as a stack by the rib 29 with their sharp edges out ofcontact with the walls of the magazine. When it is desired to supply afresh blade to the razor the handle III of the razor is turned in acounter-clockwise direction separating the cap and guard members to thelimit determined by the stop screw 20. The magazine is then brought intooperative relation with the razor with the ends of the feed slideintroduced between the cap and guard members. The finger 'piece 35 isthen advanced from right to left and as the feed slide 32 passes overthe blade stack the uppermost blade is engaged by the converging edges33 and advanced in flat condition beheath the feed slide. This feedingmovement continues until the blade is safely delivered fully to itsshaving position. In passing over the detent IS the blade depresses thelatter until it reaches its shaving position. At that point the detentl5 registers with and enters the aperture 42 and when this happens theblade is permitted to lie flat upon the blade-supporting face of theguard member. When the detent l5 passes through the aperture 42 thedetent engages the flexible feed slide and bows it transversely bypressing it upwardly against the concave face of the cap I6. When thisoccurs the dogs 34 are displaced upwardly into inoperative position withrespect to the blade and accordingly when the feed slide is retractedthe dogs 34 travel in a path entirely above the blade 40 and, therefore,perform no function.

On the other hand, if, for any reason the uppermost blade in the stackis not fully ejected from the magazine and fully locked in its shavingposition, the dogs 34 will not be rendered inoperative because thedetent l5 does not pass through the/"blade aperture 42. In theretrograde movement of the feed slide the dogs 34 will, therefore,engage the forward end of .the

blade and return the blade to its initial position in the magazine. Thefeed slide never passes off the blade stack in its forward stroke butmerely depresses the second blade and those beneath it against thecompression springs 3!. In its reverse stroke, however, theblade-engaging edges 33 drop behind the rear end of the next blade andengage it for forward feeding.

. It will be understood that the sheet metal of the feed slide 32 isflexible and that the transverse fluexibility of the slide issubstantially increased by its longitudinal slot. It may, therefore, bereadily flexed in a transverse direction.

by pressure of the detent l5 whenever the latter is permitted to passthrough the blade aperture and engage the feed slide. In Fig. 2 the sideportions 32 of the feed slide are shown as deflected upwardly by thedetent 15, carrying the inoperative positions above the located in thisposition the feed slide may be retracted without disturbing the blade.

The limit screws 20 project beyond the end of; the stem I9 by a distancewhich permits the 0 cap to be lifted above, the guard for the freepresentation of the blade on the surface of the guard member I I, butsuch separation is not sufficient to permit movement of the blade or thefeed slide beyond the range of the 'detent I5, even though the latterdoes not extend to any considerable distance above the face of the guardmember.

The present application is a division of my application Serial Number495,866, flled July 23, 1943.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail a preferredembodiment thereof I claim as new and desire to secure by LettersPatent:

1. A safety razor having a blade-clamping member, with a transverselycurved face and a narrow blade-locating rib, and a detent wider thansaid rib spring-pressed toward the said curved face, in combination witha blade magazine having a thin feed slide slotted to clear saidblade-locating rib and having means for engaging and advancing a slottedand apertured blade and other means for withdrawing a blade, the saidslide being ,bowed by contact of said detent when the latter has passedthrough an aperture in a blade carried by the slide.

2. A razor and magazine combination comprising a safety razor havingblade-holding mem- 'bers connected for limited separation to receive ablade, and a magazine having a flexible carrier slide movable with ablade between said members, blade-retracting projections on the slide,and means in the razor for deflecting the slide to locate saidprojections in inoperative relation to the blade previously delivered.

3. A razor and magazine combination comprising a safety razor havingblade-holding members connected for limited separation to receive ablade, and a magazine having a flexible carrier slide movable with ablade between said members, blade-retracting projections on the slide,and spring means in the razor for bowing the slide away from the blade.

4. A razor and magazine combination comprising a safety razor havingblade-clamping members connected for limited separation to receive aperforated blade presented between them, and a magazine having aflexible carrier with two sets of blade-engaging projections, one toadvance and the other to retract a blade. and a detent in the razorconstructed and arranged to pass through the blade perforation when theblade is in shaving position and to engage and deflect the slide.thereby moving the blade-retracting projections to an inoperativeposition.

JOSEPH MUROS.

